Announcements:​​​

• RMMS Lecture Openings

  • ​We have some open slots in our 2026 lecture schedule. If you are interested in giving a talk, or know someone who would be a good fit, please contact Vincent.louis.szilagyi@gmail.com. Any and all map related topics are welcome, as are any level of speaker experience. Thank you!
     

• ​"A Twice-told trail: retracing the Dominguez Escalante expedition and 250 years of black legend"

  • ​Tuesday, November 24, 2026 @ 5:30 PM MT

  • This project pioneers a new form of embodied, creative scholarship that combines historical research, physical re-enactment, and spatial humanities to revitalize the memory of the 1776 Domínguez-Escalante expedition. In an era of increasingly superficial travel, my research establishes a rigorous and deeply experiential methodology for engaging with history and territory. By recreating the nearly two-thousand-mile journey across the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona on a bicycle—a mode of transport closely approximating the physical challenges of the original horseback expedition—I am generating unique, embodied data and experiences that cannot be accessed through archival research alone. The project integrates Escalante’s diary and the cartography of Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco with contemporary technologies, including GPS tracking, multimedia documentation (photography, videography, aerial drone footage), and ArcGIS mapping. Furthermore, the second part of this presentation examines how current commemorations of the Domínguez-Escalante expedition continue to misrepresent the history of the Spanish presence in the Americas, effectively perpetuating the Black Legend.
     

  • Speaker: Javier Torre is a Professor of Spanish Literature, Culture and Society at the University of Denver. His area of specialization is narratives of travel and exploration, with a special emphasis in contemporary Spain and also the northern frontier of the Viceroyalty of New Spain during colonial times. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia. He has published a critical edition of the Diary of the expedition Domínguez-Escalante and, more recently, in collaboration with historian John Kessell, an expanded version of the biography of artist, explorer and cartographer, don Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco. He is currently preparing an article for National Geographic on the Domínguez-Escalante expedition and a critical edition of the various writings of father Escalante. Javier Torre is originally from Cantabria, Spain, the same region of Father Escalante and Bernardo de Miera. With the collaboration of other entities, he achieved the naming of streets for both historical characters in the city of Santander, in northern Spain.
     

  • Note: This talk will be in person and over Zoom (no registration required, link here)

  • Registration required (free) for in person attendance (Link to be posted soon)
    History Colorado Center, downtown Denver. Please click here for parking information. Program will be in the Martin Room, on the 4th floor. Please enter the building at the main (front) entrance.
     

• ​New Feature in Colorado Magazine: “Lost and Found – Rediscovering Colorado’s Earliest Records” by RMMS member Larry Obermesik

  • ​We’re excited to share an engaging piece from Colorado magazine titled “Lost and Found: How my pandemic pastime led me to rediscover some of Colorado’s earliest records.” Over the course of the pandemic, RMMS member Larry Obermesik turned a quiet hobby into a remarkable journey through archives, unearthing forgotten maps, journals, and documents that shed new light on the early days of Colorado’s settlement.

  • You may remember that Larry presented the story to RMMS last year of Daniel Jenks, the early Colorado gold miner, from the journal Larry discovered in the Library of Congress. Larry has gone on to do amazing research on the Jenks family and uncovered important documents of broader importance to share with other researchers.

  • Article linked here

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• A Mistake Map: Did putting El Paso in the wrong spot cost the US 10 million dollars? An article by Shaun Boyd
   

• Karen Pinto, a scholar in the history of Islamic cartography, has a collection of maps on Pixeum.
   

• Curtis Bird has YouTube interviews with various map makers (link)

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• Time Traveler's Map of Denver (link) - A site to compare historic maps of Denver with the current map.

• Follow the Rocky Mountain Map Society on Facebook.

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• The Rocky Mountain Map Society has a YouTube Page now! Past talks are available to view whenever you like. Check it out!

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• The publications by RMMS Members page has recently been updated.​

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• Our friend John Docktor has a wonderful list of all upcoming map events, not just in the USA, but across the pond as well. Please check it out!​

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• RMMS is collaborating with outstanding map societies across the country for some Zoom meetings! Check out their websites!

  • Washington Map Society

  • New York Map Society

  • Chicago Map Society

  • Boston Map Society

  • California Map Society

  • Philip Lee Phillipps Map Society

  • Texas Map Society
     

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